Greg’s first experience with Fanteraction™ during a show

As you’ll probably be able to tell from my writing, I’m not the regular doggy that’s been posting in this here blog.

However, I am one of the 2 people that’s been putting Fanteraction™ together, and I’ve just gotten back from the first show where I’ve actually used and promoted the platform. Thought I would give you my impressions while they’re still hot (it’s 1am right now, got off at 12:20 – so i’m still in the after-show rush).

The gig itself was as low-key as you can get – it was in a small cafe-bar called “L’escalier” (on St-Catherines right off Berri Uqam for those of you living in Montreal), with maybe 25-30 people tops. Small stage, average sound, you know the drill.

I printed a few business cards with the URL of the gig’s Fanteraction profile and gave them to people before the show, as well as dropped a few off on the bar. The URL for tonight’s gig was http://gigdog.gy/escalier (the last song I played now is accessible through “What song is playing right now?”)

My friend who was playing before me had created an account on gigdoggy, and while he was playing I was doing the “remote-control”, ie: selecting the song that he was playing on-the-fly so that people would automatically have access to it through the platform.

I saw one of two people look at the profile on their phones during his set, but because he didn’t promote the service, it didn’t get much attention.

When I got onstage, I told the audience about the Fanteraction URL, and made a point about showing them that I was selecting the song that I was going to play next. Some people kind of stared blankly (probably because they had old-school Nokias in their pockets), however a few people automatically took their iphones and blackberries out and logged on. Bingo.

During my first song, the guitar strap was too loose, and I ended up freestyling and getting thrown off-guard. I actually forgot how the second verse started, and while I continued playing asked the audience how the song went.

I could not make this up : a guy in the first row automatically yelled out “Y’a bien des fois…” (which is how the second verse starts :) and I was able to pick up where I got lost; people cheered and got into it even more.

During my set, I picked up my phone between every song and selected the next song that was to be played through the remote-control. It gave me an excuse to introduce the song, and to interact with the audience while reminding them that they could find extra content through the gig’s Fanteraction URL.

After my set, the feedback was great, with people saying they couldn’t keep up with the lyrics (that’s because I tend to rap too quickly when I play by myself :) and that we should add an option that allows people to request all the band’s info to be sent by email. Happily, that is next on our to-do list!

One thing I keep having to remind myself is that interaction with the audience during a show is what will make the difference between someone going home and thinking “that was good music” and someone going home and looking you up and downloading your music. At least I like to think so – and in my view our platform certainly played a part in that tonight :)

4 Responses

[…] platform that lets bands easily create mobile websites for their gigs. In a blog post chronicling a show in which the platform was used and promoted, the first artist to play didn’t really push it, but the second artist, Greg (one of the […]

[…] platform that lets bands easily create mobile websites for their gigs. In a blog post chronicling a show in which the platform was used and promoted, the first artist to play didn’t really push it, but the second artist, Greg (one of the […]

[…] platform that lets bands easily create mobile websites for their gigs. In a blog post chronicling a show in which the platform was used and promoted, the first artist to play didn’t really push it, but the second artist, Greg (one of the […]

Viv, the video played beiltafuluy on my email courtesy of hotmail active view. Did you mean you were having trouble with it showing on the blog? It does start out with a black screen, just the print lyrics, to the chorus lines when the color explosions begin. You might ask another friend of mine on WordPress: ptl10 on Clickablessing she is very computer-savvy! (You would enjoy her acquaintance anyway you two have a lot in common:) I can share more about that later. < PM